


The Color of Love

by jive



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Comfort, Fluff, Healthy Coping Mechanisms, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-08
Updated: 2017-01-08
Packaged: 2018-09-15 19:20:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9252230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jive/pseuds/jive
Summary: It's rare, nowadays, for Gabriel to learn anything new about Jack. They've been together for so long that they know each other like the backs of their own hands.Which is why it surprised Gabriel to discover that Jack had taken up coloring in his spare time.





	

**Author's Note:**

> The sequel to [A Picture Says A Thousand Words But All I Need Is One](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8901748) that nobody asked for.

It's rare, nowadays, for Gabriel to learn anything new about Jack. They've been together for so long that they know each other like the backs of their own hands. Save for the many embarrassing stories about their own childhoods that they're unwilling to share and haven't already heard about from their partner’s family members — Gabriel's sisters and Jack's brothers are always more than happy to spill the beans on their brother's escapades back before they even met — there's very little Gabriel and Jack don't know about each other.

Which is why it surprised Gabriel to discover that Jack had taken up coloring in his spare time.

“Was Fareeha in your office again, Jack?” Gabriel asked, picking up what appeared to be a coloring book (for some children's television show he couldn't quite remember the name of) off of the coffee table in Jack's office. “She seems to have left her coloring book and crayons in here.”

A flush appeared on Jack's face, and he scratched his nose, clearly trying to come up with an answer that was anything but the truth. It was a fruitless endeavour, as he could only sigh and shake his head in reply after a few moments of struggling. “No, that's mine. The crayons too… they're all mine,” he confessed, “I color in my spare time.”

The impulsive desire to make a joke about how odd it was that the straight-laced, fully grown, super soldier of a Strike Commander had such a hobby was instantly quenched when Gabriel gazed back up from the half-colored page and looked at Jack once more. There was a discomfort that settled in his jaw and brow, and the way Jack rubbed at his arm in the way Gabriel recognized he only does when his anxiety was beginning to bloom, didn't escape his attention.

 _Ah_.

In that moment, Gabriel had completely understood everything. He put the coloring book back down, and witnessed how the tension in Jack's body all at once dissipated,  as if the taut strings of anxiety that had been coiled around his muscles had been cut all at once.

“Oh, I see,” Gabriel replies. And though he needed no further explanation from Jack in regards to fascination with coloring, he listened, quietly and patiently, as Jack later gave one to him anyway.

As Jack had explained to him, and just as he had expected, coloring was not so much as a hobby, per se, but more of a therapy.

Jack has always had issues with anxiety — Gabriel has never seen anyone more strung up than Jack on some days — and they had only gotten worse when he was forcibly promoted to Strike Commander. He hid it well, and Gabriel was always there to lend an ear whenever he needed it, but there was only so much talking could do, and the medications Angela prescribed were limited in their effectiveness by Jack's super soldier body. What medication did work to help was only advised to use in case of severe anxiety attacks — which has only ever happened twice to Jack that Gabriel has ever known or seen; he has no doubts that Jack may have had more but just kept them to himself — meaning Jack had to resort to finding his own coping mechanisms.

Coloring, he said, seemed to be one of the few things he can do to help cope. When he colors, there was no need to worry about anything but keeping his crayons inside the lines, and the way the crayons glide so easily across the paper made it that much easier on his frayed nerves. Jack's brain clears of all the turbulent thoughts that plague him and goes quiet in times like this, a more than welcome reprieve from its usual state.

Gabriel understands. It's akin to the feeling he gets sometimes from sketching in his notebooks. He said as such, and received a grateful smile and chaste kiss from Jack as thanks.

Nevertheless, the childish coloring books didn't seem to suit Jack at all, and Gabriel could only imagine how those large negative spaces between the lines could feel daunting and tiresome after a while. He kept the thought tucked away in the back of his mind for later, and made it his mission in that moment try and repair whatever frayed nerves still addled Jack from the press conference.

Gabriel finds Jack tucked away in their shared quarters one afternoon, after a particularly stressful press conference about the state of affairs in regards to Overwatch and the shocking amount of omnic uprisings in Thailand. His uniform is scattered about in pieces around the room — the signature blue duster on the floor as if Jack had meant to put it on a hook of the coat rack and missed; gauntlets sitting atop the dresser; boots left messily at the foot of the bed; and pieces of body armor on the plush armchair by the window — leaving him in just his usual turtleneck shirt and fatigue pants. Jack always looks so much smaller like this, when he's stripped bare of the imposing armor and weight of the Strike Commander title, and with the way he's curled up with his back against the headboard, legs propped up so he can use his lap as a surface for whatever it is he's working on, his vulnerability is even more apparent.

Jack pays him no mind, too immersed in his work to even notice that someone else had entered his room, and he nearly startles when Gabriel slides into bed besides him and greets him with a kiss to his temple. Instinctively, Jack turns his head to meet Gabriel's cheek with his lips, and Gabriel can only chuckle inwardly at the way Jack's eyes don't leave the page in front of him.

“Hey, babe,” Jack greets him quietly. He sounds tired, as he normally does in times like this, but the quick, focused movements of his hand give clear indications as to just how strung out Jack is, still. The gold ring on Jack's left hand glints in the light with each stroke of his colored pencil — a gift from Gabriel that he brought back from his last mission in Strasbourg — on the page and it brings a warmth to his chest.

“Hey,” Gabriel replies, cuddling close, “Feeling better?” He lets the wrapped gift dangle from his hand off the bed, out of sight for now.

Jack gives him a vague noise in lieu of an actual answer, but Gabriel feels the tension in his body still, and knows well enough take it for the ‘ _No, not really_ ,’ that it means.

“I have a present for you,” Gabriel offers.

Jack’s hand falls still on the page and he sighs quietly. Carefully, he begins to speak, “If you're going to tell me my present is a bow wrapped around yo-” only to be cut off by Gabriel's protest.

“No, no!” Gabriel says, torn between laughing and feeling slightly offended that Jack would see an ulterior motive in the skinship. He moves his hand to hold the package just above Jack's hands, and smiles warmly when Jack kisses him in apology for the accusation.

“What is it?” Jack asks, turning the gift in his hand.

“You can find that out just by opening it, Jackie.”

Briefly, Jack shoots him a _look_ before he moves to take off the bright yellow and white wrappings off of his present. Gabriel delights a little in the quiet but deep inhale of Jack's breath as the metallic paper peels back to reveal a book with an unmarked, royal blue cover.

Though Gabriel hates how cheesy it is to do the same thing twice, he can see with the way Jack's eyes come back to life upon opening to the first page. The first image is reminiscent of the last sketchbook Gabriel had presented him with, only the image of Gibraltar is far more refined and bold, dark lines marking clear distinctions between different parts of the image as if the original sketch had been turned into the prototype of a stained glass window.

“Gabe, what is this?” Jack asks, cautious. His eyes do not leave the book as he flips through, each page a different image, but drawn and inked in the similar, bold style as the one before it.

“A coloring book,” Gabriel answers, pride exuding from his voice, “I made it. For you. I figured you could use something less…” He flips to the cover of the coloring book Jack had been working on before, fighting the laugh that threatens to bubble when he sees the titular character on the page. “‘Greetings, Rabbit’-related.”

“...it was a present from Fareeha,” Jack murmurs quietly, his tone defensive

Gabriel can see his brow beginning to furrow, and hurries to try to fix the damages.

“It's cute,” he says almost too quickly, “Once you finish that one you can start using the present I just gave you. Probably a lot easier to carry around and hide too.”

For a few moments, only silence and the fluttering of pages as Jack flips through the book can be heard. When Jack's hands finally settle down on the familiar image of his hometown, brought to life in Gabriel's distinctive style, a smile creeps its way to his face, warm and bright enough to clear up any worries and doubts that had begun to cloud Gabriel's mind.

“I love it! Thanks, Gabe,” Jack says, turning to him with affection and gratitude pouring out of him in abundance. “I can't wait to use it. Thank you.”

“You're welcome, cariño,” he replies. Strong arms wrap around Gabriel's torso, and warm lips meet his own. Gabriel returns the embrace happily, along with each and every kiss Jack gives him.

Before long, a shelf on their bookcase becomes dedicated to holding the multitude of coloring books Gabriel draws for Jack. Steadily, over the years, it grows fuller and fuller with royal blue covers, and countless pages each and every one colored and filled with as much love and care as they were created with.


End file.
